In This Story
Students in Professor and Associate Chair Pelin Kurtay’s ECE 350 class recently showed off their Embedded Systems and Hardware Interfaces final projects.
They presented nearly two dozen projects at the MIX (Mason Innovation Exchange), highlighting applied engineering, fabrication skills, and collaborative teamwork. The various projects utilized 3D printers, electronic components, sensors, and mixed media design thinking to bring their embedded systems to life. The projects were required to be interactive and structured to deliver meaningful value to customers while helping students develop the habits and mindset promoted by the KEEN (Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network) framework. Students who successfully completed the project earned a digital microcredential badge through Credly, recognizing their achievement in customer-centered interactive design and prototyping.
The MIX is a unique space that supports hands-on project development through workshops, staff guidance, and access to specialized equipment and fabrication tools.
Kurtay used part of her KEEN fellowship funds to hire student consultants from mechanical engineering and art and design to support the teams, particularly with moving parts, mixed materials, and UI/UX components. All students received training at the MIX on 3D printing and Fusion 360 from one of the consultants, leading to many projects incorporating 3D-printed components and enclosures.
Kurtay collected data on the impact of using consultants, as well as on how students approached designing their products using a customer-oriented perspective (each team worked with another team who was their customer). She intends to publish her findings.
An additional aspect of the course was encouraging students to use AI tools to generate and refine ideas for improving their projects. This approach led to the development of more complex and advanced projects while enhancing students' creativity and problem-solving processes.
“By combining embedded systems design with customer-focused thinking, hands-on fabrication, and AI-assisted ideation, students developed projects that were more creative, technically advanced, and impactful than I have seen in previous years,” said Kurtay.
“ECE 350 was an incredible class that bridged the gap between technical concepts I learned in previous classes and their real-world, hands-on applications,” said student Isabella Puentes. “For the final project, my partner and I designed and built a foosball table from scratch, giving us freedom to create something entirely our own. Seeing it go from concept to working prototype was incredibly rewarding. The technical classes I’ve been taking can take a mental toll, and this class reminded me why I chose to pursue engineering: It gave me the opportunity to be creative, apply everything I had learned, and experience the excitement of bringing an idea to life.”